The ability to reach ~35 million Americans, synchronously, every week, for 5+ years.
Different time.
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My 10yo daughter now goes to bed every night listening to the @AcquiredFM episode on The Walt Disney Company, over and over. Not sure if this is good or bad.
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There was no word for it at the time, but the reason Seinfeld was so good was that so many of its themes were what we now call memes. They were iconic. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Little-known tidbit about Apple's "Think Different" campaign: there was a version with Jerry Seinfeld!
It aired only once, during the Seinfeld finale.
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A friend in Chicago just texted me this.
30 years later, and TV stations are still advertising Seinfeld re-runs to get you to tune in.
A article about a podcast about a show about nothing.
Live in the @WSJ: wsj.com/business/media/seinf…
72 million Americans have watched 'Seinfeld' so far this year. In 2026! Nearly three decades after it went of the air. Why?
Full video episode on @netflix.
The NBC Research memo from Seinfeld's pilot: "Weak"
"Jerry's 'loser' friend, George, who was not a particularly forceful character."
"No segment of the audience was eager to watch the show again."
Nobody knows anything.
"Each monologue had its own recording of the Seinfeld theme to match Jerry's standup timing." youtube.com/watch?v=oGa1brzA…
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One of the best anecdotes here is how Seinfeld got approved through the late night department at NBC, because it was originally supposed to be a one-time special
The NBC comedy department was on a tear at the time with the Cosby show, Cheers, and a bunch of others
They had a strict process to test, refine, and approve sitcoms before they got made, and Seinfeld would have never made it through
So many of the best ideas, works of art, companies only get built by going through the side door
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PS: Here's how Seinfeld's viewership and ratings changed over time.
From Season 5 through 9, it was consistently in the top 3 most-watched shows on television.
For more charts/data on Seinfeld's incredible economics, see our multi-decade study: worldlypartners.com/business…
Available in fine podcast players everywhere: pod.link/acquired/episode/OW…
Oh, and there's one more thing for this episode.
Hello, @netflix :)
